Really?: So yeah there is this some soccer game at RFK this weekend. This usually means great things. It means I will be getting together with lots of friends and heading out early to take full advantage of one of the better tailgating scenes around. Inside the stadium you get to experience the Barra and some pretty good socer.
The twist this weekend? United is on vacation and so is most of the Barra. No chance I get there super early (if at all - we will get to that later) to make breakfast burritos for the masses. No this will be a really werid situation. Ticket prices will keep all of my closer friends away. The game starting at noon will also be a major factor into the no-shows. Basically I wouldn't even ask people to go. That's how bad this could end up being.
So if my team loses a playoff game on Saturday morning - a win means we play during MLS Cup 2007 - I will roll into Lot 8 about 2 hours before kickoff to support Duffman's Breast Cancer Raffle, see some of the Barra members who got stuck with MLS Cup tickets, and try and scalp a ticket for myself well under face value ($40!). I might drink a few Coronas along the way but I'm not rolling in with all of my usual stuff. If you don't know what I mean that you should seriously consider rolling to a game next year before everything changes.
Last time: I think the last time I was at RFK for a soccer match that didn't include United or the US national team it was 1999. That game featured Brazil vs Ecuador. It was in the fall on a weeknight and I drove back home after classes just to see the Samba Boys. I went back to Harrisonburg after the match. From what I can remember I was sorta tired the next day. Weird. Sorta shocking that the ol' Dodge Aires could handle so many miles in just one day.
I have come up with a list of sad/depressing songs and/or song titles that I will blast out of my iPod should this nightmare tailgate actually happen. Here we go:
Can't Believe United Blew it Side
Say It Ain't So - Weezer
Brick - Ben Folds Five
I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues - Elton John & Mary J. Blige
Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
Yesterday - The Beatles
Cry In The Sun - Better Than Ezra
November Rain - Guns N' Roses
I Miss You - Blink 182
Straightjacket Feeling - All American Rejects
A Long December - Counting Crows
I Can't Be With You - The Cranberries
Hurt - Johnny Cash
Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones
As I Choke - Ross Copperman
Why Does The Game Start at Noon? Side
Pain - Jimmy Eat World
For Reasons Unknown - The Killers
Disappointment - The Cranberries
Everybody Hurts - R.E.M
Stab My Back - All American Rejects
Trouble No More - The Allman Brothers Band
Broken Hearts Parade - Good Charlotte
Times Like These - Foo Fighters
Land of Confusion - Genesis
Cry Me a River - Justin Timberlake
Disarray - Lifehouse
Loser - Beck
Here Without You - 3 Doors Down
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Thursday, November 8, 2007
All She Wrote....
Well in the past 7 days at least 3 things very near and dear to me have gone away for, at the very least, the foreseeable future. So here we go in no particular order of importance:
1. Pumpkin Delights - Man I really do love those 100 calorie a pop, smiling as I eat them, pumpkin treats. I can't exactly be surprised since they get me every fall only to leave until next year - but I must say it doesn't get any easier. It's pure snack food bliss for a good six weeks. Luckily for me real pumpkin pies are still in mid season form until the end of the year. You know one of these years I will probably find somebody else that likes them, but until then, its all me baby!
2. Fever Pitch - After reading the first chapter of a book there are exactly 2 reasons to flip to the back and check out the tiny number on the last page. You either can't wait to get there or hope to put it off for as long as possible. Well if I had my say in the matter this book would be longer than War & Peace. I really delayed the inevitable as long as humanly possible but eventually it had to come to an end. The movie, while documenting a fan of a sport that doesn't really get me going at all, is pretty damn funny. Luckily the book follows a supporter of a team that I actually follow - Arsenal. For as many laughs you get with the big screen version, you get just as many in the book as well as some actual serious issues. I'd really like to read something similar written by a fan following Georgetown Basketball but it's probably up to me to put the pen to paper. No need to check your local Barnes & Noble anytime soon.
3. United - Complaining about anything in this third section would be a complete waste of time. Every season is different and always ends well. (reader note: If I had been asked to write this last Thursday Night when I first got home it might look a little different!)
Actually I lied...I'm not going to touch on all 3 subjects today. I need to get out of here and I need to dedicate an entire blog to all things related to United. Look for it tomorrow...
Until then....
1. Pumpkin Delights - Man I really do love those 100 calorie a pop, smiling as I eat them, pumpkin treats. I can't exactly be surprised since they get me every fall only to leave until next year - but I must say it doesn't get any easier. It's pure snack food bliss for a good six weeks. Luckily for me real pumpkin pies are still in mid season form until the end of the year. You know one of these years I will probably find somebody else that likes them, but until then, its all me baby!
2. Fever Pitch - After reading the first chapter of a book there are exactly 2 reasons to flip to the back and check out the tiny number on the last page. You either can't wait to get there or hope to put it off for as long as possible. Well if I had my say in the matter this book would be longer than War & Peace. I really delayed the inevitable as long as humanly possible but eventually it had to come to an end. The movie, while documenting a fan of a sport that doesn't really get me going at all, is pretty damn funny. Luckily the book follows a supporter of a team that I actually follow - Arsenal. For as many laughs you get with the big screen version, you get just as many in the book as well as some actual serious issues. I'd really like to read something similar written by a fan following Georgetown Basketball but it's probably up to me to put the pen to paper. No need to check your local Barnes & Noble anytime soon.
3. United - Complaining about anything in this third section would be a complete waste of time. Every season is different and always ends well. (reader note: If I had been asked to write this last Thursday Night when I first got home it might look a little different!)
Actually I lied...I'm not going to touch on all 3 subjects today. I need to get out of here and I need to dedicate an entire blog to all things related to United. Look for it tomorrow...
Until then....
Friday, October 26, 2007
packed saturday...i know
I'm not sure what makes me a bigger loser...posting a blog on a Friday Night at 7pm-ish or what I am about to admit to my dedicated readers.
I have nothing to do tomorrow. Just for reference - tomorrow is a Saturday. Typically a day full of stuff.
It seems like the last month or so has seen me with a schedule sorta like this:
Friday
5pm: Go spend way more than I anticipate for the tailgate. Free advice: Don't shop for a tailgate on an empty stomach. Bad idea.
7:30pm: Soccer game.
10pm: A few beers with the team. Hopefully the destination is Red Robin so I can get a banana milkshake on the way out.
Saturday
6am: Get up to watch the Arsenal game.
9am: Drive to Germantown for my game. Nothing like hitting 270 spur traffic on a Saturday morning.
12pm: Get back and pack up the truck. By the way, big brick to shower after my game because after packing up the truck I am soaked.
1:00pm: Leave for the tailgate - unless Adam is taking forever to find my house.
3:30pm: Try and watch some of the latest Notre Dame ass kicking while making a chicken for Will Chang.
4:15pm: Listening to Baker taunt his beer pong opponents. This is usually coupled with some sort of dance and song with Bui.
5:30pm: Change the channel to CBS for good after stating that I am no longer a fan of Notre Dame.
5:34pm: Switching back to NBC just to make sure the Irish didn't errupt for 3 points.
6:00pm: Bitter that all of the limes are gone for the beer.
7:15pm: Bragging about how great the spot I picked out for the TV is because you can't see a glare.
7:30pm: Packing up and finishing my last beer of the day. I mean somebody has to drive.
11:00pm: Pass out.
This week you ask? No game tonight, Saturday morning game is going to be non existent thanks to the rain, United was last night, Arsenal plays Sunday morning, and Notre Dame is idle.
What I should do is meet up with Danny and some of my other JMU friends for homecoming because this is about the first year that I have been able to attend for various reasons. Most of them rhyme with "delighted". This is an opportunity I shouldn't pass up. I mean even if its not that much fun, I know eating at D-Hall would be worth the drive. I think the football game might be sold out, but let's be honest here...I went to less than 5 games in 4 fall semesters in Harrisonburg so that's not really a problem.
Alright I'm going to go figure all this out while I'm running at Gold's.
Real quick (for games that matter):
Redskins 27 - Patriots 19
Arsenal 2 - Liverpool 1
Oregon 34 - USC 31
Penn State 17 - OSU 15
Idle 8 - Notre Dame 6 (Irish cover at home!)
Arizona State 42 - Cal 27
This now concludes my relationship with the interent until Monday morning at work.
lateR
I have nothing to do tomorrow. Just for reference - tomorrow is a Saturday. Typically a day full of stuff.
It seems like the last month or so has seen me with a schedule sorta like this:
Friday
5pm: Go spend way more than I anticipate for the tailgate. Free advice: Don't shop for a tailgate on an empty stomach. Bad idea.
7:30pm: Soccer game.
10pm: A few beers with the team. Hopefully the destination is Red Robin so I can get a banana milkshake on the way out.
Saturday
6am: Get up to watch the Arsenal game.
9am: Drive to Germantown for my game. Nothing like hitting 270 spur traffic on a Saturday morning.
12pm: Get back and pack up the truck. By the way, big brick to shower after my game because after packing up the truck I am soaked.
1:00pm: Leave for the tailgate - unless Adam is taking forever to find my house.
3:30pm: Try and watch some of the latest Notre Dame ass kicking while making a chicken for Will Chang.
4:15pm: Listening to Baker taunt his beer pong opponents. This is usually coupled with some sort of dance and song with Bui.
5:30pm: Change the channel to CBS for good after stating that I am no longer a fan of Notre Dame.
5:34pm: Switching back to NBC just to make sure the Irish didn't errupt for 3 points.
6:00pm: Bitter that all of the limes are gone for the beer.
7:15pm: Bragging about how great the spot I picked out for the TV is because you can't see a glare.
7:30pm: Packing up and finishing my last beer of the day. I mean somebody has to drive.
11:00pm: Pass out.
This week you ask? No game tonight, Saturday morning game is going to be non existent thanks to the rain, United was last night, Arsenal plays Sunday morning, and Notre Dame is idle.
What I should do is meet up with Danny and some of my other JMU friends for homecoming because this is about the first year that I have been able to attend for various reasons. Most of them rhyme with "delighted". This is an opportunity I shouldn't pass up. I mean even if its not that much fun, I know eating at D-Hall would be worth the drive. I think the football game might be sold out, but let's be honest here...I went to less than 5 games in 4 fall semesters in Harrisonburg so that's not really a problem.
Alright I'm going to go figure all this out while I'm running at Gold's.
Real quick (for games that matter):
Redskins 27 - Patriots 19
Arsenal 2 - Liverpool 1
Oregon 34 - USC 31
Penn State 17 - OSU 15
Idle 8 - Notre Dame 6 (Irish cover at home!)
Arizona State 42 - Cal 27
This now concludes my relationship with the interent until Monday morning at work.
lateR
Flattered? Yes...but enough is enough
Non Saturday Night Matches: In a season that featured exactly zero Saturday Night home games from July 14th to Sept 29th, it really should come as no surprise that United is getting totally screwed in the playoffs.
Thursday Oct 25th @ Chicago
Thursday Nov 1st Home to Chicago
Thursday Nov 8th (only if they advance past Chicago)
How did this happen? Look no farther than the executives at ESPN. They have the Primetime package and guess which team they want to focus on? Yep you guessed it. The Black and Red.
The real nail in the coffin was when LA failed to make the playoffs. You know they would have wanted to plaster Beckham all over the place. I would have been more than fine with that.
The real problem for me? I can't get my friends to show up with any sort of regularity to weeknight matches. The list of variables that hurts attendance is pretty long but the biggest factors are work - duh and the fact that you don't have the next day to recover from a few too many drinks/lack of sleep.
Even when I can get people to show up its just not the same. It's too bad because it is pretty fun. Just last week I had the most impressive girl to guy ratio my truck has ever seen (5:1). Out of that group it looks like I might have one repeat passenger. And that's only a maybe. Don't get me wrong...I'm not hating the players...just the game.
In an effort to end this blog week on a positive thought I will say this:
Next year should be a lot better in terms of home scheduling based soley on the fact that the Nationals are gone from RFK. I think we will see many more Saturday night games in 2008 which will mean more tailgate time. That's a win-win situation. Now all we have to do is get ESPN to fall in love with another team and its a win-win-win. I could be cised.
Thursday Oct 25th @ Chicago
Thursday Nov 1st Home to Chicago
Thursday Nov 8th (only if they advance past Chicago)
How did this happen? Look no farther than the executives at ESPN. They have the Primetime package and guess which team they want to focus on? Yep you guessed it. The Black and Red.
The real nail in the coffin was when LA failed to make the playoffs. You know they would have wanted to plaster Beckham all over the place. I would have been more than fine with that.
The real problem for me? I can't get my friends to show up with any sort of regularity to weeknight matches. The list of variables that hurts attendance is pretty long but the biggest factors are work - duh and the fact that you don't have the next day to recover from a few too many drinks/lack of sleep.
Even when I can get people to show up its just not the same. It's too bad because it is pretty fun. Just last week I had the most impressive girl to guy ratio my truck has ever seen (5:1). Out of that group it looks like I might have one repeat passenger. And that's only a maybe. Don't get me wrong...I'm not hating the players...just the game.
In an effort to end this blog week on a positive thought I will say this:
Next year should be a lot better in terms of home scheduling based soley on the fact that the Nationals are gone from RFK. I think we will see many more Saturday night games in 2008 which will mean more tailgate time. That's a win-win situation. Now all we have to do is get ESPN to fall in love with another team and its a win-win-win. I could be cised.
you never forget the first one...
The Age of Innocence is now officially over. I mean it had to happen. There are just some things you can't avoid forever. I mean if you go to enough away playoff games, eventually you will witness a loss. Hopefully they will be few and far between but they will rear their ugly head from time to time.
Hello - it's the playoffs. What that means is that the opposition is, by definition, pretty good. Last night was my loss. For those of you keeping score at home, I have made it out to every playoff game, home and away, since 2004.
Here is the away list:
2004 @ New York (win)
2004 @ LA vs KC (win)
2005 @ Chicago (tie)
2006 @ New York (win)
2007 @ Chicago (loss) DAGGER!
So there it is. My first time. Not exactly Sweet Home Chicago is it? Well you know what? I don't mind the loss. I think United will advance by taking care of business in front of 25k fans at RFK next Thursday. I seriously find it easier to be upbeat about the teams I follow when they are struggling. Never kick somebody when they are down...unless Dan Snyder is the one calling the shots.
All in all you gotta take the good with the bad. It is all part of the journey that we have decided to take.
Ok lets focus on the good if we can.
(+5) I got a chance to talk with ESPN's Julie Foudy and Rob Stone. Julie even decided that taking a picture with me about 10 beers deep was a risk she was willing to take. As soon as I charge up my phone I will have to upload that shot of me and the former World Cup Veteran.
(+2) I get to add another stadium to my list. The latest numbers show me up to 50 in my climb towards 100. The other two times I have been to Chicago the Fire were still sharing Soldier Field with the Bears.
(+2) They serve beer until the 75th minute at Toyota Park. Once I realized United wasn't going to come back I took full advantage of this rule.
(+2) Beer is $2 cheaper at Toyota Park as opposed to RFK.
(+1) I was able to make a lot of people laugh yesterday. Random texts from friends asking if I was in Chicago was met with laughter after receiving my answer. Only problem is that I had loads of trouble completing texts after the game. Lots of errors and incomplete deliveries. Weird - see the last two comments above to figure out what went wrong.
(+4) I shook off the hangover after about an hour this morning and slept on the flight. Stay away from the liquor and I am usually fine the next day.
(+1) Didn't have to take time off work. I worked later a few nights this week to even out the ledger.
(+20) Sam faked on going. What that means is that he didn't get thrown out. FYI - he was asked to leave Soldier Field in 2005 by the guys in yellow security jackets.
Hello - it's the playoffs. What that means is that the opposition is, by definition, pretty good. Last night was my loss. For those of you keeping score at home, I have made it out to every playoff game, home and away, since 2004.
Here is the away list:
2004 @ New York (win)
2004 @ LA vs KC (win)
2005 @ Chicago (tie)
2006 @ New York (win)
2007 @ Chicago (loss) DAGGER!
So there it is. My first time. Not exactly Sweet Home Chicago is it? Well you know what? I don't mind the loss. I think United will advance by taking care of business in front of 25k fans at RFK next Thursday. I seriously find it easier to be upbeat about the teams I follow when they are struggling. Never kick somebody when they are down...unless Dan Snyder is the one calling the shots.
All in all you gotta take the good with the bad. It is all part of the journey that we have decided to take.
Ok lets focus on the good if we can.
(+5) I got a chance to talk with ESPN's Julie Foudy and Rob Stone. Julie even decided that taking a picture with me about 10 beers deep was a risk she was willing to take. As soon as I charge up my phone I will have to upload that shot of me and the former World Cup Veteran.
(+2) I get to add another stadium to my list. The latest numbers show me up to 50 in my climb towards 100. The other two times I have been to Chicago the Fire were still sharing Soldier Field with the Bears.
(+2) They serve beer until the 75th minute at Toyota Park. Once I realized United wasn't going to come back I took full advantage of this rule.
(+2) Beer is $2 cheaper at Toyota Park as opposed to RFK.
(+1) I was able to make a lot of people laugh yesterday. Random texts from friends asking if I was in Chicago was met with laughter after receiving my answer. Only problem is that I had loads of trouble completing texts after the game. Lots of errors and incomplete deliveries. Weird - see the last two comments above to figure out what went wrong.
(+4) I shook off the hangover after about an hour this morning and slept on the flight. Stay away from the liquor and I am usually fine the next day.
(+1) Didn't have to take time off work. I worked later a few nights this week to even out the ledger.
(+20) Sam faked on going. What that means is that he didn't get thrown out. FYI - he was asked to leave Soldier Field in 2005 by the guys in yellow security jackets.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Guten Tag!
Its times like last night that makes me wonder how long I actually thought about my 8th grade course schedule before handing it over to my counselor. I mean it’s blatantly obvious to me that I put very little thought into the task. I was probably too busy worrying about which color Umbros I would be wearing the next day. (I got cised for the checkered red ones!) Or maybe I was in a major rush to get to the corner so I could meet Jesse on our daily trip to the Park for some legendary games of 21 with the rest of the gang. I mean look there weren’t even that many things going on.
You gotta remember that those were the old days. Nobody had the Internet. Hoping on AOL IM the minute you got home just to talk to friends you saw in IFL wasn’t an option. Nobody had a cell phone. I didn’t have any important texts to send out. The only girls I talked to after school had one thing in common – they were all related to me. So what was I doing? I know it wasn’t homework. Lake Braddock didn’t require much work outside the subschools. I think it’s safe to say that I spent more time studying the back of Football and Basketball cards to learn the player’s college than I did on worrying about my order of operations.
Well whatever it was, my judgment was severely clouded as I made a decision that I am still paying dearly for to this day. I signed up for German instead of Spanish. Why? This is a decision that continues to haunt me.
Last night wasn’t the first time and I know it won’t be the last time that finds me sitting through 90 minutes of a United game understanding nothing more than the players names and the word vamos. Hey guess what? I don’t even have German TV channels. Wanna know what else? I didn’t even go to the 2006 World Cup when it was in Germany. (Thank god by the way. What a disaster.) German 1, 2, and 3 has provided me with zero. I am so bitter at the auf deutsch.
I guess I could have gone out in an effort to avoid the language barrier but two nights in a row isn’t happening for me at this point in time. The wallet and the body have spoken.
Maybe I should just take some classes at Nova. It would probably enhance my tailgating experience in Lot 8 – which is something I am always open to.
Well whatever it was, my judgment was severely clouded as I made a decision that I am still paying dearly for to this day. I signed up for German instead of Spanish. Why? This is a decision that continues to haunt me.
Last night wasn’t the first time and I know it won’t be the last time that finds me sitting through 90 minutes of a United game understanding nothing more than the players names and the word vamos. Hey guess what? I don’t even have German TV channels. Wanna know what else? I didn’t even go to the 2006 World Cup when it was in Germany. (Thank god by the way. What a disaster.) German 1, 2, and 3 has provided me with zero. I am so bitter at the auf deutsch.
I guess I could have gone out in an effort to avoid the language barrier but two nights in a row isn’t happening for me at this point in time. The wallet and the body have spoken.
Maybe I should just take some classes at Nova. It would probably enhance my tailgating experience in Lot 8 – which is something I am always open to.
Result: In case anybody was interested the good guys lost last night 1-0, which brought the aggregate score in the home and away series against Chivas Guadalajara to 2-2. Chivas advances in the Copa Sudamericana by the virtue of their away goal. Dagger. The biggest dagger of the night was the PA announcer randomly playing the Chorus of "We Are The Champions" ad nauseam last night. Isn't there some Spanish equivalent out there???
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Oct 15 yet?
So much for College Football. It's about time we get to the hardcourt huh?
Just how bad is it? Well I don't think a line has ever moved quicker for a game in the history of betting. Michigan State opened up as a 4.5 point road favorite against the Irish this Saturday. Yeah, uh, now it's up to 12.5. Wow.
I'm not going to lie....this link made me laugh. It's so bad you cant help but laugh or you will go crazy.
I was excited to see how this season might unfold with lots of young, unknown players. Excitement turned into disgust real fast. You know if lessons are learned from defeat, the players are about to finish their Phd in record time. It's not the losing, its how they are losing.
The only positive would be that Ty and company got crushed by the Buckeyes at home. Thank you Mr. Sweater Vest. You finally did me a favor. I love college football but this fall isnt off to such a great start.
Ok the good: We got the gang back together the other night for the 'Skins Monday Night victory. Just like old times with Keith showing up with Code Red. It would have been more fitting if Shark Attacks had made an apperance but what are you going to do right? Or if we had played Madden until 7am but you gotta take things slow.
At one point Brendan was about to go nuts with me one the phone with Nikki, Adam reading an article, and Keith checking out mid game lines. Of course Campbell did us all one better by spending the entire second half in the front yard talking to who knows.
Congrats to our very own D'Arcy Bowen Wills. He is tying the knot with his longtime girlfriend Virginia this weekend deep in the heart of Texas. Should be a good time so I will have something to report when I get back.
Until next time...
Just how bad is it? Well I don't think a line has ever moved quicker for a game in the history of betting. Michigan State opened up as a 4.5 point road favorite against the Irish this Saturday. Yeah, uh, now it's up to 12.5. Wow.
I'm not going to lie....this link made me laugh. It's so bad you cant help but laugh or you will go crazy.
I was excited to see how this season might unfold with lots of young, unknown players. Excitement turned into disgust real fast. You know if lessons are learned from defeat, the players are about to finish their Phd in record time. It's not the losing, its how they are losing.
The only positive would be that Ty and company got crushed by the Buckeyes at home. Thank you Mr. Sweater Vest. You finally did me a favor. I love college football but this fall isnt off to such a great start.
Ok the good: We got the gang back together the other night for the 'Skins Monday Night victory. Just like old times with Keith showing up with Code Red. It would have been more fitting if Shark Attacks had made an apperance but what are you going to do right? Or if we had played Madden until 7am but you gotta take things slow.
At one point Brendan was about to go nuts with me one the phone with Nikki, Adam reading an article, and Keith checking out mid game lines. Of course Campbell did us all one better by spending the entire second half in the front yard talking to who knows.
Congrats to our very own D'Arcy Bowen Wills. He is tying the knot with his longtime girlfriend Virginia this weekend deep in the heart of Texas. Should be a good time so I will have something to report when I get back.
Until next time...
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